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Cyrexa, the adeptly adductive Argonian

Morrowind Planned Levelling Guide

Terms

First, let’s clear up some terms I’ll be using in this guide (note: they may differ from other guides such as USEPWiki)

Skill – things you actively use in the game, like security, destruction and marksman.

Base Stat – the basic attributes that skills depend on, such as agility and endurance.

 

General Strategy

I’ve found the best strategy is to level relatively quickly, whilst being sure to level up some of your misc skills as you go. This is so the game doesn’t get too hard while lots of your skills are underdeveloped - it is no help being an excellent sweet talker if a fire atronarch is burning your buttocks. Developing an understanding of how the leveling system works is invaluable at this planning stage. Many other guides have delt with this subject, so I won't go into this in too much detail myself - I refer readers to the USEP Morrowind page for that.

Planning Strategy

I have formulated the following five-step Evil Plan Of Doom, which I have found leads leveling success:

(1) Create your character, choosing whichever race and sign you want – it won’t have that much impact on the process. The real thing to watch is what you choose as your major and minor skills, as both contribute to when you level up. The best thing at this stage is to create a custom class rather than rely on the game presets. Try to choose things you know you can control, like alchemy or blade, instead of things you can’t actively shape, like block or athletics (you can choose these if you really want, but it’ll make things a lot messier). Also, try to mix up which skill depends on which base stat.

The following base stats are related to the following stats:
Speed – Short blade, athletics, hand-to-hand, unarmored.
Agility – Sneak, block, light armor, marksman.
Intelligence – Enchant, conjuration, alchemy, security.
Willpower - Alteration, destruction, mysticism, restoration.
Personality – Speechcraft, illusion, mercantile.
Strength – Armorer, blunt wepon, acrobatics, axe, long blade.
Endurance – Spear, heavy armor, medium armor.

For my example, I am playing as a male Argonian (of course) born under the sign of the Tower, with a custom class (to give me more complete control). Here is what I have to start with:

Base Stats Agility -60 Endurance - 30 Intelligence -40 Luck - 40 Personality -30 Speed -50 Strength - 50 Willpower - 30

Major Skills Security - 35 Illusion - 35 Sneak - 35 Restoration - 30 Alchemy - 35

Minor Skills Armorer - 15 Light Armor - 20 Mercantile - 20 Athletics - 30 Destruction - 15

Misc Skills Block - 5 Medium Armor - 10 Heavy Armor - 5 Blunt Weapon - 5 Long Blade - 5 Axe - 5 Spear - 10 Enchant - 5 Alteration - 5

Misc Skills (continued) Conjuration - 5 Mysticism - 10 Unarmored - 10 Acrobatics - 10 Short Blade - 10 Marksman - 10 Speechcraft - 10 Hand-To-Hand - 10

(2) Write out a table with levels across one axis, and base stats down the other. We’re going to aim to increase three of these with a bonus modifier of five for each level, but leave it blank for now, like the following. Feel free to cut and paste the tables on this site to use as a template :)

	...1...	...2...	...3...	...4...	...5...	...6...	...7...	...8...	...9...	...10...
Agility
Endurance
Intelligence
Luck
Personality
Speed
Strength
Willpower

(3) Write out another table with skills down one axis, and levels across another, with groupings into ‘major’, ‘minor’ and ‘misc’ skills. When you have written up the table, note which skill is related to which base stat (Intelligence, willpower, strength etc.). The actual grouping of skills will depend on what you chose during the character creation stage. Here is an example of just the 'major skills' section.

We will use this in tandem with the table from step 2.

(4) Going back to the first table you’ve drawn, fill out your base starter stats in the ‘level 1’ column, and choose three these your base stats to increase by five (i.e. Intelligence). One at a time so it doesn’t get confusing, write the value from the ‘level 1’ column plus the five you wish to increase it by in the ‘level 2’ column, i.e. 20 increasing to 25.

	...1...	...2...	...3...	...4...	...5...	...6...	...7...	...8...	...9...	...10...
Agility	60
Endurance	30	35
Intelligence	40
Luck	40
Personality	30
Speed	50
Strength	50
Willpower	30

Turn to your skills table, and find three skills that depend on that base stat, increasing each of their base values by one.

Repeat this until all three of the base stats you wished to work on each level are finished. Here’s where it gets a bit tricky – you only want to increase the number of points in the ‘major’ and ‘minor’ skills section by fifteen points, using the rest up in the ‘misc’ skills section. I find it makes it much easier to think of things in fives.

As you distribute points to skills, try to spread them as evenly as possible, and try not to leave one skill on 10 while another reaches 70. Also, keep in mind at this planning stage that a skill’s value can’t exceed the base stat value, so you can’t possibly get, say, a Destruction value of 60 when Intelligence is just 45.

It sounds daunting, but it quite easy once you get the swing of it. Eventually, you will end up with a comprehensive level-by-level plan that will lead to maximum success. Don’t be afraid to go back and tweak things you’re not happy with – it’ll take an age to actually play this out, so you don’t want any mistakes at this stage.

Here is a worked through example broken into 10 level blocks and with some commentary, to give you an idea of what I mean…

Levels 1 - 10

For this first block I’m concentrating mainly on evening up the base stats and major skills, so the misc skills will end up being quite disperate. Also, I’m looking quite a bit at endurance, as health goes up 10% of endurance each level, so the extra health boost early on will be helpful.
Click here to skip the tables and jump to the next bit of commentary.

Levels 10-20

Now I’ve got the main stats more evened out, I can concentrate more on getting the minor and misc skills more evened up…
Click here to skip the tables and jump to the next bit of commentary.

Aaaaand finally its just a matter of getting things up to 100 :)
Click here to skip the tables and jump to the next bit of commentary.

So, following this method, I have a shiny Level 31 character planned out. His derived attributes will be:

Health - 134.5 (half of the sum of endurance and strength at the start, plus a 10% of endurance increase each level-up)
Magicka - 100 (same as intelligence)
Fatigue - 400 (sum of final willpower, strength, agility, and endurance)
Encumbrance - 500 (five times strength)

Base Stats Agility -60 Endurance - 30 Intelligence -40 Luck - 40 Personality -30 Speed -50 Strength - 50 Willpower - 30

Major Skills Security - 35 Illusion - 35 Sneak - 35 Restoration - 30 Alchemy - 35

Minor Skills Armorer - 15 Light Armor - 20 Mercantile - 20 Athletics - 30 Destruction - 15

Misc Skills Block - 5 Medium Armor - 10 Heavy Armor - 5 Blunt Weapon - 5 Long Blade - 5 Axe - 5 Spear - 10 Enchant - 5 Alteration - 5

Misc Skills (continued) Conjuration - 5 Mysticism - 10 Unarmored - 10 Acrobatics - 10 Short Blade - 10 Marksman - 10 Speechcraft - 10 Hand-To-Hand - 10

So, now you’ve got your plan worked out, how to you put it into action? Three things you need to consider are: How closely you’re going to stick to the leveling plan, how to make the best use of trainers, and in-game methods of leveling quickly and painlessly.

Sticking to the leveling plan

Sometimes sticking to your plan can be a chore. Selling a quiver one arrow at a time can get tiresome, and it is all too easy to split from your pre-planned table and just run off for a romp, throwing all your stats out of kilter. This isn’t to say your leveling has to be perfect – your bound to accidentally buff up some stats here and there when you don’t mean too, but there is only so far you can go from your plan before everything is foiled. There are two strategies to avoid this:
1) Play two games at once – one where you’re leveling, and one where you’re just playing for fun. That way, when leveling becomes a chore, you can switch and have some well-deserved hack’n’fireball. Morrowind is such a big game you can have the two games in completely different stages so it won’t feel like you’re just repeating what you were doing. This has worked wonderfully for me over the years.
2) Use the console. Not really in the spirit of the game, but if you’re sick to death of leveling and just want some pwnage, you could use the console command player->set*insert skill name here* *insert number here*, i.e. player->setmarksman 50 will set your marksman skill to 50. I really don’t think this is a good idea, as it means you can’t be proud of the spiffy character you finally produce.

Making The Best Use Of Trainers

Once your personality is sufficiently developed (in the game, not in person – the game would treat the most magnetically wonderful individual the same way as a repulsive snotter :P), be sure to get trainer’s dispositions up to 100 before dealing with them for a cheaper deal. Also, if you want to sell an expensive item to a trainer who also barters, buying training from them will temporarily increase the amount of gold on their person and available for barter.

A trainer cannot train you if your level is higher than theirs, but it is easier to level up on your own when you are a lower level. I find for the first five levels or so I save my gold and don’t use trainers at all, so that way when leveling up becomes more tedious I have plenty of monies set aside for training. Also, note that the number of times you can train is limited per level. For this reason, I tend to pick the most difficult/annoying to level up skills (like block) to use trainers for, leaving the easier skills (like sneak) to myself.

Master trainers (level 100) are often difficult to find, expensive, and sometimes require you to complete a quest before they’ll train you. They’re a must if you want to use a trainer after level 75 or so, but until that point it is best to use their lower level counterparts.

Some trainers are hostile to you, and your conversation is so short you don’t get a chance to ask for training. A ‘calm humanoid’ spell can be very useful for charming them into talking to you for this. Also, remember that some trainers will ignore you if you don’t belong to their faction, or are not sufficiently advanced in that faction. The ‘calm humanoid’ spell won’t work here, and the only option is to join/advance in whatever guild or faction they belong to.

So, the next task is finding where the trainers are… Ooh look, I made a handy list!

Click to jump to: Acrobatics, alchemy, alteration, armorer, athletics, axe, block, blunt weapon, conjuration, destruction, enchant, hand-to-hand, heavy armor, illusion, light armor, long blade, marksman, medium armor, mercantile, mysticism, restoration, security, short blade, sneak, spear, speechcraft, unarmored.

Level	Person	Location
Acrobatics
100	Senyndie	Vivec, Arena Fighters Quarters
79	Aerin	Maar Gan, Andus Tradehouse
77	Sugar-Lips Habasi	Balmora, South Wall Cornerclub
71	Ernse Llervu	Vivec, The Abbey of St. Delyn the Wise
	Todwendy	Balmora, Lucky Lockup
70	Avus Belvilo	Dren Plantation, Storage Shack

 

Alchemy
100	Abelle Chriditte	Valenvaryon, Propylon Chamber

 

Alteration
100	Seryne Relas	Tel Branora, Seryne Relas's House
76	Ardarume	Sadrith Mora, Gateway Inn: West Wing
72	Qorwynn	Indoranyon
71	Yakin Bael	Vos, Vos Chapel

 

Armorer
100	Sirollus Saccus	Ebonheart, Hawkmoth Legion Garrison
70	Avus Belvilo	Dren Plantation , Storage Shack

 

Athletics
100	Adibael Hainnabibi	Kaushtababi Camp, Adibael's Yurt
75	Delyna Mandas	Tel Fyr, Onyx Hall
	Huleeya	Vivec Foreign, Black Shalk Cornerclub
72	Missun Akin	Falasmaryon, Missun Akin's Hut

 

Axe
100	Alfhedil Elf-Hewer	Falensarano, Upper Level
72	Eydis Fire-Eye	Balmora, Guild of Fighters

 

Block
100	Shardie	Buckmoth Legion Fort (-2,5)
82	Khargol gro-Boguk	Dagon Fel, Vacant Tower
71	Ulms Drathen	Molag Mar, Armigers Stronghold

 

Blunt Weapon
100	Ernse Llervu	Vivec, The Abbey of St. Delyn the Wise
78	Alfhedil Elf-Hewer	Falensarano, Upper Level
72	Eydis Fire-Eye	Balmora, Guild of Fighters

 

Conjuration
100	Methal Seran	Ald'ruhn, Temple
81	Abelle Chriditte	Valenvaryon, Propylon Chamber
70	Avus Belvilo	Dren Plantation, Storage Shack

 

Destruction
100	Leles Birian	Ascadian Isles Region (4,-8)
81	Ardarume	Sadrith Mora, Gateway Inn: West Wing
	Erer Darothril	Sadrith Mora, Dirty Muriel's Cornerclub
	Seryne Relas	Tel Branora, Seryne Relas's House
78	Qorwynn	Indoranyon

 

Enchant
100	Qorwynn	Indoranyon

 

Hand-To-Hand
100	Taren Omothan	Holamayan Monastery
70	Caius Cosades	Balmora, Caius Cosades' House

 

Heavy Armor
100	Seanwen	Vivec, Arena Fighters Training
76	Shardie	Buckmoth Legion Fort (-2,5)
71	Ulms Drathen	Molag Mar, Armigers Stronghold

 

Illusion
100	Erer Darothril	Sadrith Mora, Dirty Muriel's Cornerclub

 

Light Armor
100	Aerin	Maar Gan, Andus Tradehouse
70	Ruccia Conician	Ebonheart, Grand Council Chambers

 

Long Blade
100	Ulms Drathen	Molag Mar, Armigers Stronghold
86	Shardie	Buckmoth Legion Fort(-2,5)
74	Larrius Varro	Moonmoth Legion Fort, Interior
72	Adibael Hainnabibi	Kaushtababi Camp, Adibael's Yurt
	Mertis Falandas	Ghostgate, Tower of Dusk Lower Level
	Missun Akin	Falasmaryon, Missun Akin's Hut

 

Marksman
100	Missun Akin	Falasmaryon, Missun Akin's Hut
75	Aradraen	Vivec, Foreign Quarter, Aradraen: Fletcher

 

Medium Armor
82	Khargol gro-Boguk	Dagon Fel, Vacant Tower
78	Alfhedil Elf-Hewer	Falensarano, Upper Level

 

Mercantile
100	Ababael Timsar-Dadisun	Zainab Camp, Ababael Timsar-Dadisun's Yurt

 

Mysticism
100	Ardarume	Sadrith Mora, Gateway Inn: West Wing
81	Abelle Chriditte	Valenvaryon, Propylon Chamber
	Leles Birian	Ascadian Isles Region (4,-8)
76	Erer Darothril	Sadrith Mora, Dirty Muriel's Cornerclub
	Seryne Relas	Tel Branora, Seryne Relas's House
	Yakin Bael	Vos, Vos Chapel
71	Methal Seran	Ald'ruhn, Temple

 

Restoration
100	Yakin Bael	Vos, Vos Chapel
81	Leles Birian	Ascadian Isles Region (4,-8)

 

Security
100	Hecerinde	Balmora, Hecerinde's House

 

Short blade
100	Todwendy	Balmora, Lucky Lockup
74	Nileno Dorvayn	Balmora, Hlaalu Council Manor
72	Mathyn Bemis	Vivec, Hlaalu Ancestral Vaults
70	Athesie Andas	Andasreth, Upper Level
	Athyn Sarethi	Ald'ruhn, Sarethi Manor
	Avon Ravel	Hlormaren, Keep, Bottom Level
	Faral Retheran	Vivec, Redoran Treasury
	Navil Ienith	Dren Plantation, Dren's Villa

 

Sneak
100	Ri'Shajirr	Caldera, Shenk's Shovel
	Wadarkhu	Gnaar Mok, Druegh-jigger's Rest
84	Aerin	Maar Gan, Andus Tradehouse
71	Ernse Llervu	Vivec, The Abbey of St. Delyn the Wise
	Todwendy	Balmora, Lucky Lockup

 

Spear
100	Mertis Falandas	Ghostgate, Tower of Dusk Lower Level

 

Speechcraft
100	Skink-in-Tree's-Shade	Wolverine Hall: Mages Guild
75	Ruccia Conician	Ebonheart, Grand Council Chambers
70	Caius Cosades	Balmora, Caius Cosades' House

 

Unarmored
100	Khargol gro-Boguk	Dagon Fel, Vacant Tower
70	Caius Cosades	Balmora, Caius Cosades' House

 

In-game methods of leveling quickly and painlessly

Try leveling up things that compliment each other – some combinations I’ve found that work well are:
- Light armor and armorer: as your light armor receives a battering, you can use armorer to fix it as you go
- Uarmored and restoration: as your health gets dangerously low, use a healing spell
- Achemy and mercantile: make the potions and sell them for a neat profit.
- Athletics and Blade: run through a cliff-racer filled zone (like the path between Seyda Neen and Balmora), hack away, and run away if you’re mobbed by too many
Be sure not to overreach yourself at your current level: if under level 10, use rats and mudcrabs to hone your armor and weapon skills, moving to larger creatures only when you’re sure you’re strong enough. Mudcrabs are particularly good, as they are easily outrun. It’s best not to actually kill the creatures you’re using for leveling, as then you have to either wait for them to respawn or find others. Its much more convenient to run away, wait a few hours so their health regenerates, and then run back.

Aside from these general tips, I refer readers to this excellent guide on some specific skill level-up methods.

Final Message

Morrowind is a big and complex game, and getting your character to a shiny level 30 or above will take time. It won’t be an overnight quick-fix- don’t expect planned leveling to be a long-term project and don’t give up! It is more than worth it in the end :)